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Genesis VII: Two Months Later
Two months passed. During this time, Lantis received a promotion in the Dyemaker's Guild and was sent to Solendis to deliver a gift to Queen Voleta III. Tahl was charged with aiding in the construction of a powerful device capable of focusing his light powers and sent to destroy one of the lich-lords, but inadvertently transported himself back to Equis. Nel had Tan-Sul extracted from his body and was led to an old room beneath the monastery dusted with green sand, where Tan-Sul gave him the task of regaining his crystal body. He sought out a hermit transmuter in a forest in Regnis who gave him three ingredients to locate in order to transmute himself. He began his search in Solendis. Eldrin went on a complicated but daring adventure to exorcise the spirit of Jasmine, which was still haunting him. During the adventure, his horse, Peanuts, was killed. Eldrin spoke with a necromancer who led him to believe that Jasmin's soul could be used to facilitate the return of Peanuts' soul to his body, but this was not accurate -- instead, the ritual transferred Jasmine's soul into the horse's body. Jovian continued his usual routine of seeking out new and interesting items for his collection. In Valencia, he encountered the Collectors (of the soul collecting variety) and played a game of cards with them, the result of which was Jovian's acquisition of a soul, though he was not made aware of whom it belongs to. He also sold the Jana's Peak monastery to a duke of Regnis he met on the road, though of course he had no authority to do so. After two months, everyone had arrived (through different channels) in the Regnisian capital of Solendis, which was facing tension as forces massed on the borders of Regnis and Torm. The party members were gathered individually by Royal Guardsmen and brought into audience with Queen Voleta III. Once all had been gathered in the palace, Voleta informed them that Argus had made her aware of their search for the ''Renascentia Arcanum, ''and that she, too, was seeking the copies. According to Voleta, only three copies of the book were made. Despite the name ("Mysteries of Rebirth") the ''Renascentia Arcanum ''contains numerous rituals relating to the magic of the gods themselves, including rebirth, creation, death, summoning, and binding. The three copies actually constitute one complete work, and none are at all useful without the other two. In ancient times, an individual known only as the Elder gave one copy each to the Northmarch nations of Caruvis (Regnis' predecessor), Brovumir (a kingdom of dwarves, covering Jana's Peak and most of modern Azreidel), and the Asoan Empire to the south. Torm took one half of Caruvis' book when it rebelled, leaving the other half in Voleta's libraries. The dwarven copy was lost, although recovered by Tahl and sent with Adelbern. The final copy was missing after the consolidation of the empire, but Voleta believed that she had tracked it to distant Heimcanaan, ancient home of the heimwargs. She asked that the party retrieve it for Regnis, and in exchange she would allow them to study both her half-copy and the newly-retrieved copy. They agreed, and were allowed the use of the HMS Putrid Current, a ship named after Admiral Putrid, a Regnisian naval hero. They journeyed to Portsmouth to take the boat, and on the way met with a collective of merchants who traded with Nel (his Qashra staff for a staff of unknown function, if any). Jovian also offered to sell them a dart from his collection capable of turning wine into water, which he possessed, but which required that anyone using the item already be considerably intoxicated. This led to a large party at a travelers' inn along the road, during which time the party and the merchants all became very drunk. In the morning, Nel received an unexpected tattoo, and Eldrin learned that he had spent the night with a man who left a belt behind. Nel put the belt on and found his gender was immediately changed. Distraught, he sought out a gnome tinker in Portsmouth named Rentis, who claimed to have encountered the belt before and devised a second belt that would nullify the effects, making Eldrin androgynous. He took the belt and wore it as the party boarded the ship. A few days into their journey, the ship was attacked by sahuagin. Within moments, they killed most of the crew. The party fought the creatures and defeated them, though at the cost of the ship; by the end of the battle the hull had been split nearly in half, the deck was on fire, and the mast had been physically removed. Additionally, Eldrin was killed by the sahuagin while standing on the broken mast and fighting the creatures coming up from the water, while simultaneously trying to retrieve his severed arm from one of the sahuagin's mouths. Lantis was also cast into the "Void" again, this time in a colourless realm full of nightmarish horrors. He bartered with the spirit Zaros to escape, but the price was that all of his tuning forks would temporarily be replaced by a single one that had to be used before the others could be struck again. The party escaped on a boat made of plant matter created by Tahl's magic. As a precaution, Tahl unleashed his full power on the boat, creating a blinding pillar of light that destroyed the ship and created a huge wave of water and steam. This wave engulfed and destroyed the small escape boat, resulting in a series of catastrophes, including Nel's attempt to use his powers of birth magic to create something that could aid him and instead creating a terrible deep sea monster. He used the staff that he traded for from the merchants, which created a flaming black hole, and Lantis struck his new tuning fork against his own staff, summoning an entire horde of Leviathan. Jovian managed to produce a life-raft from a special dart in his briefcase, and most of the party managed to escape using the spirit Seris to propel the boat, save for Nel, who was killed in the cloud of steam after escaping drowning and flaming gravitational death. The party washed ashore and promptly prepared to rest, but first, Lantis demanded that Tahl sever Hemlocke's hold upon him that was threatening to cast him into the Void again. After some debate between them and Jovian, Tahl reluctantly did so, causing Lantis to see a flutter of dark wings from the corner of his vision. Now free to summon at will, he called forth Zaros again and bartered for a "bone fortress," which cost him his skeleton and replaced it with a filamentous substance similar to cartilage. Two members and one skeleton shorter, the party camped on the beach. Category:Plot of Genesis